Miracles (They Do Happen)
by Pridesen
Summary: Tony loves Christmas; Loki hates it. They compromise, and at the end of the day all is better than fine. One might call it a Christmas miracle. [frostiron, sort of AU, bit OOC]


**A/N: So I was _supposed _to do five Christmas stories, but then I ran out of time/inspiration and now I only have one. But regardless, I hope you enjoy it and I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, although I made up the holiday Loki is talking about. But if it actually is a thing or something then I don't own it either.**

**-.::.-**

Tony is happy. Why wouldn't he be? For the first time in a while, he's actually doing fine in his life. Six months sober, two years in a healthy relationship, at least 7 hours sleep per night. He's even eating somewhat regularly. Someone really should give him a medal for all that. _Tony Stark: Relatively Healthy Person of the Year_. It'd look good on his wall.

On top of everything, it's Christmas. And for once, he's not spending it in his lab, drinking, working and singing Christmas carols off the note alone. This year he has actual friends to be with, and an actual boyfriend. Tony doesn't like the word – he wants to think what he and Loki have is more than a teenage-sort of romance. But since he can't figure out a better word, he's sticking with boyfriend.

If only said boyfriend would be even a bit as enthusiastic about the whole holiday thing as Tony was, everything would be perfect.

Tony is hanging the fifth ornament on the tree when Loki crawls from their bedroom, clearly craving for a cup of coffee. It's one of the habits he quickly adapted once moving to Midgard permanently; drinking coffee. Tony may have played a small part on it, offering a cup every once in a while until it got to a level of addiction. He's not that sorry about it, though. Caffeine deprived Loki is a hilarious thing to see.

So while Loki steps in to the kitchen, fishing a clean mug from the shelves and pouring still hot coffee from the pan into it, Tony continues his decorating. He's not sure how Loki will take the whole Christmas thing – last year he had to go to some sort of conference-slash-meeting thing in Asgard right before the 24th day. Tony has no idea what it was for, but he had to spend Christmas Day with just the rest of the Avengers because of it. This year, he made sure Loki would be on Earth.

Tony hears Loki's perspective about 'the whole Christmas thing' in approximately five minutes.

"What are you doing with those glimmering... _things_?" He asks, speech still a little slurred from sleep. Tony tries his best to suppress a grin. He fails.

"Good morning to you, too. I'm decorating the Christmas tree. Wanna help?"

When Loki fails to answer, Tony turns his head around to look at the other man. Loki's watching the tree suspiciously, eyes narrowed. "What's that for?" He asks, waving his hand towards the tree while sipping coffee. Tony watches with a smirk as he grimaces because of the bitter taste.

"It's not _for _anything. It's just sort of a tradition. You know, for Christmas." He explains, and hangs another red bauble on one of the branches. Loki doesn't say anything this time either, and Tony suspects his brains works at a slower mode than normally in the morning. Usually Loki would take any chance he has to say something, as long as he gets the last word.

"Christmas?" He finally mumbles to his cup with one raised brow, eyeing the room which is full of different colored lights, bright stars hanging from the roof and a small Santa Claus statue on top of the fire place. Tony steps away from the tree, checking it up and down once more to make sure there's no empty spots.

"Yeah. You know what Christmas is, right?"

"I am aware."

"Well, good. 'Cause we're celebrating it this year, and it'd be shame if I had to tell you every–"

"I said I knew what it was, not that I liked it."

Tony turns to look at Loki again, this time with a frown, and walks over to the kitchen. He sits down opposite him.

"What do you mean you _don't like it_? Everybody loves Christmas", he says and snatches an apple from the basket at the end of the table. Loki turns up his nose in disgust as Tony munches on it loudly.

"I mean, that I think that it is an unimportant and unnecessary thing to celebrate, and therefore completely meaningless. Why should I like it?"

Tony puts down the apple, looking like someone told him they're taking away his suits. "Because it's _Christmas_", he says like that should explain everything. And to him, it sort of does.

"That doesn't make any sen–" Loki begins, but is interrupted by Clint and Natasha coming in. Snapping his mouth shut, Loki makes way for them to sit down. Tony slowly continues eating his apple, watching Clint's face lit up when he notices the tree standing in the corner. _At least _someone _appreciates my work_, he thinks with a small smile.

"What's up with the decorations?" Natasha questions, looking at the living room with raised eyebrows. Before Tony can open his mouth, Clint is already answering for him. "It's Christmas, Nat. The best holiday of the year. Beats even Halloween," he says with a grin. Tony feels like a proud father.

"I get that," she says. "Just didn't take Tony for a big Christmas fan." She turns to look at Tony, who shrugs.

"Well, I am."

"I can see that."

Suddenly Loki gets up, and Tony looks at him questioningly. "I'm going back to sleep", he says and without further explanation, hurries through the room and back in to the bedroom. He brushes one bauble with his arm on the way, and it falls to the floor with a soft thud. Tony stares after him, frowning.

"What's gotten into him now?" Clint asks, and Tony shakes his head. "Dunno. Guess he doesn't like Christmas."

Standing up, Tony picks the now empty coffee cup Loki left behind and places it into the sink. He watches it for a moment, not moving his hand away yet. Clint is speaking distinctly, but Tony can't make out the words.

Then there's a gentle touch on his shoulder, and Tony turns around with his familiar smirk.

Natasha watches him, slight worry in her eyes. "You should go after him," she says. Clint opens his mouth, probably to retort something, but Natasha kicks him in the ankle before he can. Tony moves away from the touch, and Natasha lets her hand drop.

"Yeah, I– I'll go", he says and starts to walk towards the bedroom. Clint mutters something, and Tony's pretty sure he picks up the words _they're both insane _and _stop kicking me_. He smiles to himself, and opens the door.

**-.::.-**

Loki's sitting on the bed, legs crossed, with a book on his lap. Tony's so used to the scene it makes his heart warm up. Or makes his arc reactor warm up; whatever.

"Hey," Tony says and walks closer. He sits on the edge, near Loki's legs. "You alright?"

Loki doesn't look up, but then again he rarely does. Unless what Tony's saying is extremely interesting, or if the book he's reading is extremely boring, he ignores Tony. Tony doesn't take it personally – it's a habit he also has. Although most of the time Tony's just being an asshole, while Loki genuinely has no regards as to what's happening around him.

Tony moves his hand to Loki's knee, shaking it slightly.

"Lokes? You hear me?"

Slowly Loki blinks, glancing at Tony before closing the book. He places it upside down before Tony can see the title, but he doubts he'd find it interesting anyway.

"What is it?" Loki asks, green eyes narrowed once again. Tony sighs.

"I was just wondering what's up with you. Since you, you know, kinda stormed out there."

Loki is quiet for a while, moving his eyes from Tony to the white cover of the bed. Then he presses his lips together, before replying.

"I'm just not... very _fond _of Christmas. I cannot see the point of it, and it– it reminds me of this one Asgardian holiday that's not so pleasant either. Well, I suppose it's pleasant for everyone but me." Loki's eyes shift between the cover and Tony's hand still resting on his knee as he speaks, nervously tapping his fingers on top of the book. Another habit he probably picked from Tony.

Tony sits silently, waiting for him to continue. It always takes a while for Loki to open up. The first time he had talked about his past with Tony it'd taken him two hours to get to the point, and then half more spent in complete silence. Tony thinks it's because he's never had anyone else to listen to him, except for maybe Thor. But he hardly counts.

"The, uh, holiday is celebrated around the time of February in here, I think," Loki begins again. "And it's based on basically the same concept. The idea of giving others gifts, presents, and then receiving ones in return. We do it for different reason than you, but it's too long of a long story to explain right now."

Tony doesn't say anything, afraid he'll interrupt Loki's line of thought.

"Anyway, when we were children, I always used to get Thor a present. Just a little something – a new book, or a weapon, simple things like that. And every year he would forget to give me anything. He always had a different excuse, from not remembering to not knowing what to give. But it wasn't until later on that I learned that he'd made deal with Sif and the others."

Loki's eyes are glazed over, deep in memories. Tony has an idea that this story won't have a happy ending.

"The deal was that if any of them gets me anything, the person gets banned from their little group. And clearly the membership was more important to Thor than me. It's not really what bothers me, not anymore. But it used to, and I guess I still connect the bad memories of that with your Christmas."

Tony doesn't know what to say; he's not sure if Loki's even expecting him to say anything. He's not used to dealing with emotional stuff unless he can cover it with humor. And clearly, he's not going to joke right now. He still has some regards for his own life. So Tony does the only thing he can think of, and moves his hand away from the knee to wrap both of them around Loki's shoulders. Hugging him tightly, Tony presses his nose against the god's neck.

"We don't have to celebrate, if you don't want to. It's alright." He murmurs against Loki, not sure if the other man can hear him or not. But apparently he can, because Loki answers.

"Why do you like Christmas so much?"

Tony pulls back, arching one eyebrow. "Why'd you ask?"

"I'm curious." Loki looks at him exceptionally, waiting for Tony to speak. The silence lasts for a while before Tony breaks.

"Fine, fine. I'll share my story. It's not as long and fancy as yours, and I don't like telling it, but whatever. Consider it a Christmas present." Tony sighs, standing up and pacing in front of the bed. He's really not used to telling stories about his life, so he guesses that's another thing he and Loki have in common. Eventually he begins, trying to keep it short but still tell everything. Or at least almost.

"Alright, so when I was about six or so, I was really into Christmas. Like, I wanted to build my own reindeers and everything. I still kinda want to, that'd be cool. But anyway, my dad didn't like that. At all. Anything that distracted his work was not a good thing, and even less if it wasn't considered important. So, yeah. Did not get to build reindeers, or buy presents, or any of that. And now I'm trying to have all my lost Christmases while I can, I guess."

It turns out Loki's just as bad with comforting as Tony, and after a few minutes they're wrapped around each other again. Tony can feel Loki's breath on his skin as they sway slightly from one side to another, not saying a word.

"We should." Loki says, his voice loud in the quiet room.

"Should what?" Tony asks back, puzzled.

"Have Christmas. Never mind my silly childhood traumas, you should get a proper Christmas."

Tony freezes, completely still against Loki.

"Do you mean that? You would actually celebrate a thing you _hate _because of _me_?"

"I demand it. We must do this whole Christmas thing. I... I want to."

Tony leans back, looking Loki straight in the eye. He half-expects the trickster to laugh at his face, call it a joke and go and throw the tree out from the window or something. But he doesn't, and instead Loki's face breaks into a wide smile. Tony returns it, still confused as ever. Before he can do anything, Loki's already walking back to the living room, leaving Tony standing alone with a grin.

**-.::.-**

Tony's lying on the couch, legs propped against the small table there, when Loki returns. After Tony had followed him to the living room, still quite not sure as to what was going on, he'd been met with Loki putting his coat on and going to the elevator. Tony had found himself speechless yet again. Loki had been gone soon, and when Tony had asked Natasha and Clint what was going on they'd mumbled something unclear and Tony had given up. If Loki wanted to keep his secrets, so be it.

But now he was back, and as it turns out Tony's not such a patient guy after all. He was planning on letting Loki stay quiet, not ask about where he took off so suddenly, keep his mouth to himself. But of course he can't do that.

"Where were you?" Tony calls out, changing through different channels so fast that they all become sort of a blur of mixed voices and pictures.

Loki doesn't answer until he's sitting next to Tony. He lifts his feet next to his, and slumps against the other man. "It's a secret."

Tony rolls his eyes, and reaches his other arm over Loki to pull him closer. "So you're not gonna tell me at all?"

Loki lifts his head to smirk at Tony, not in the I'm-about-to-do-something-evil way but more like I-know-something-you-don't-hah way. It used to be an unusual sight, Loki smiling regularly, but in the last two years Tony's grown accustomed to it. Well, it doesn't send shivers down his spine anymore, and if it does, it's definitely not because he finds it terrifying.

"I'll let you know soon. But for now, forget about it," he says and Tony lets it go. If Loki doesn't want to tell him, he can wait. Probably.

Tony pauses his channel surfing to a random channel, and they end up watching reruns of _Numb3rs_. At one point Loki leaves for a moment, and comes back with a scowl but Tony doesn't ask. Last time he asked Loki what was wrong, he got a half an hour speech that made very little sense and ended up with Loki retreating to their bedroom for a day. So Tony keeps quiet, again.

**-.::.-**

By the evening it's snowing and Tony feels like a ten-year old boy again. He watches the white flakes fall down on the streets, covering everything in a powder-like cover. Now, the thing is that Tony doesn't necessarily like snow, and he definitely doesn't like winter or cold. But when it's Christmas, if it's not snowing, it's not really _Christmas_, is it? So Tony gets excited about snow now, and when the holiday is over, he wishes he'd have a giant heat lamp to melt it all away.

That doesn't sound like a bad idea, now that he thinks about it.

Suddenly he feels hands sneaking up from behind, wrapping around his waist and a chin pressed on his right shoulder. Tony turns his head slightly to look at Loki, smiling.

"What's up?" he asks, and Loki hums lowly.

"Not much. Just wondering."

"About what?"

"Us."

That surprises Tony, who raises his eyebrows at Loki and takes a step away from his arms. Leaning against the window, he eyes Loki.

The other man (god?) looks happier than usual. He's smiling, a care-free, wide smile that reaches the corners of his eyes and makes them crinkle. His posture is relaxed, hands in pockets of the pants Tony bought him last week, and the AC/DC shirt's sleeves rolled up.

"Us? Something special or...?" The question's left hanging in the air, but Loki seems to get the idea.

"No, just... in general," he begins. Then his smile falters a bit, as if he's nervous about something. "I have your Christmas present, by the way."

Tony's taken a back. At first he wants to laugh – imagine a god trying to do Christmas shopping among humans, listening to the same Holly Jolly Christmas songs for hours and being generally frustrated about everything. But he's too confused and curious to do that. So instead he steps forward, brows still up on his hairline. "Really? What is it, then?"

Loki sways nervously on his toes, looking at the floor and biting his lower lip. Tony finds it more adorable than he probably should.

"It, um..." And for once, Loki's speechless for a while. Then he takes a deep breath and lifts his head to look at Tony.

"Before I met you, I was lost. You know what I went through, and after New York, I'll admit it. I was a mess. I've told you all of this, so I won't repeat it now. But meeting you helped me. It made me get back on the... 'right path', you could say. And–"

"Wait," Tony says slowly, eyes wide. "What are you doing?"

"_And _even if I don't say it often, I am grateful for it," Loki continues, ignoring Tony. "Grateful for you. I love you, Anthony, even though that seemed like an impossible thing years ago. So, as this is somewhat a tradition you humans have..."

Tony holds his breath, feeling like his eyes might pop out of their sockets soon. If Loki's doing what Tony thinks he's doing... Well, it really would be a Christmas miracle for sure.

"What are you saying?" he asks quietly.

"Anthony Stark, will you marry me?"

He doesn't get down on one knee, or bury Tony in roses, or recite a poem, or any romantic crap like that. But for Tony it's more than enough, and he's not sure whether to punch Loki or kiss him senseless. _Both_, he decides. _Both is good._

And so he hits him in the arm lightly, before throwing himself into a hug.

He doesn't say a clear 'yes', but he knows it and Loki knows it, so it doesn't matter one way or another. Snow continues to fall down as Loki slips a ring to Tony's finger, lights hitting the stone there. And if anyone asks, Tony doesn't cry. And neither does Loki. And they definitely don't spend the night curled on the sofa together, watching every Christmas movie Tony can think of. And Loki doesn't start to like the holiday at all.

They'll deny it all and JARVIS will delete any and all evidence, because he's a cool AI like that. And the next day, Tony shows off the ring with a proud and happy grin, and even Natasha smiles.

Tony's sure this Christmas made up perfectly for all the missed ones. Maybe next year he'll even make the reindeers happen.

**-.::.-**


End file.
